Saturday, July 2, 2011

I had a bit of a shock recently when I realised that my trusty old Wizard of Oz organiser was ending in July. I’m usually really delighted to buy new organisers because you know, notebook fetish and what not… but I’m also a little sad at the demise of the Wizard planner because it was really beautiful and suited my purpose nicely.

I got it from a shop in Parkway Parade which I believe is called Sationery Island and it’s one of those planners (you’ll get a similar kind from Artbox) which allows you to put in any date and any month and any year. It came with some really cute stickers and I am, if anything, a sucker for massively cute stickers. The beautiful paintings and Wizard of Oz quotes really sold me too - I'm a massive fan of the movie and the songs and I used an undergraduate essay as an excuse to watch it something like 50 times.

If you’re interested, both Stationery Island and Artbox will have amazing organisers like this and they’ll all be colourful and exciting and will any luck, you can put any month in as well.

I was ready for a bit of a change though, and stuck for what to do about being abandoned by my planner in July, when completely by coincidence, I strolled into Waterstones and found this:

I've wanted to try moleskine organisers for ages, but pocketsized is way too small for a notebook freak like me. But a moleskine organiser that runs from July 2011 to December 2012 that's medium-sized? Sign me up! What really sold me is the fact that it’s a softcover mole and I’ve been DYING to try one of those for ages because they look a lot lighter and more flexible than the hardcover moles.

(A caveat – I’ve heard some not so nice things about the durability of the softcovers, so I’ll let you know how it goes after some use.)

I bought the moleskine wrapped in plastic without really knowing what was going to be inside apart from a week every two pages, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a whole bunch of different things, all of which are very useful.

These time zones for instance, are helpful for someone like me who is occasionally living in three at once.

And I really really loved the idea of this ruler because I don’t carry a ruler around anymore and I think this will come in handy!

There’s also a month kind of calendar in the front that you can use for quick appointments or birthdays and so on. (Update: There are stickers in the back that I didn’t see earlier! Little red, green and grey stickers to mark dates! I’ll show them in the review proper.)

The actual organiser pages are great, my handwriting is tiny, so they’re the perfect size, and the lined page on the right is great for making notes about the week in particular. For instance, this week I’m travelling, so it has my packing list on it.

That’s all I’ve got for now, but I’ll do a detailed review of this moley after I’ve used it a bit in case you’re interested in getting one. For now though, I have to say that I’m pretty satisfied with it so far.

PS As you’re reading this, I’m probably chilling in the land of the brave. Hope you enjoyed it though, and I’ll see you soon!

I had a tiny planner (not a moleskin, I actually don't even know what a moleskin is spite reading your post) and then I lost it. Now I have a huge calander but it's not the same..

I'm also a fan of the Wizard of Oz, but I don't watch the original because 1) I don't own it and 2) I have a weird thing where I don't like to watch old things. But I do have some remakes which are basically along the same lines and singing. I really want to go and watch Wicked. I've been wanting to For-EV-ER but I don't want to pay for it (I'm cheeeeeap) and I don't want to travel to the city and I don't want to go alone.

The Real Girl

I'm just about as average a girl as you're going to get. I'm not tall or thin or beautiful. I'm not good at taking photos, being interesting or looking nice. I don't have tons of money to spend on designer clothes or tons of time to go shopping for them. I'm not particularly tech savvy. But I have a smart camera and I like to write. Besides, I figure blogging is a bit like singing in the shower. It won’t affect those who don’t hear it, and those who do hear it must be pretty durn close to you anyway.